Food and Place in the Bible

HIST 5/338 Food and Place in the Bible

Lectures: TBD

Credit Hours: 3

Cost: $555 Audit; $2,205 Credit

Field Study Cost: $3,800 per student (Cost does not include flights)

Recorded Lectures: Yes

Description

Food has been an essential and significant component of all historical people groups. This was no less true in ancient Israelite society. Its villagers, urbanites, and semi-nomads farmed, foraged, and engaged in animal husbandry on a diversity of landscapes. These seasonal, place-based practices influenced everything from daily household rhythms to cultic rituals in Jerusalem's temple. This course will take a foray into the foodscapes of ancient Israel and its neighbors, exploring the agricultural cycle and human work it required. Class discussions will move beyond farming to include such practices as hunting, fishing, foraging, and wild tending. We will also reflect on modern attitudes about food and the implications of our disconnection from its production. This course will explore the ways that food influenced perspectives in the Bible. Participants will gain an appreciation for the connection between food and place.

Objectives

By the end of the course, a student should be able to:

Become familiarized with the agricultural cycle and its progression from planting to harvest among ancient Israel and its neighbors
Understand the rhythms and practices of non-agricultural food acquisition, including foraging, hunting, and fishing among ancient Israel and its neighbors
Engage ancient human technologies that accompanied the processing, storing, and preparation of food by ancient Israel and its neighbors
Appreciate the literary and theological ways food informs the background of the Bible and its interconnection with land and God
Consider how modernity and industrialization has influenced the current understanding of food
Be encouraged to seek greater connection between food and land in their locale

Equivalencies

Cultural anthropology
Socio-cultural studies
History
Bible

Field Study

This course is offered online with an in-person field study component.

Dates: 8-15, May 2027

Description: Non-in-residence students will arrive in Jerusalem and stay at JUC for the night before departing to Jordan for a six-day interactive field study to traditional villages and Bedouin areas in Jordan. Students will practice traditional farming and cooking practices, stay in Wadi Rum in a tent with a Bedouin family, ride camels, hike down Wadi Dana, and spend time with a shepherd. This field study is designed to experience traditional life as much as possible and, as a result, is JUC's most rugged field study. Students will sleep in tents, spend two nights in Wadi Rum with no running water, and go on a nine-mile hike.

The field study will return to JUC's campus in Jerusalem on the evening of 14 May, and students should book their departure for 15 May.

This field study is mandatory for all students taking the course for credit. It is optional for audit students.

Sample Itinerary: View Sample Itinerary

Cost: $3,800

Registration Deadline: 7 February 2027
Field study registration and payment instructions will be emailed to students who first register for the course.

Informational Meetings: Register for an informational meeting to learn more about the field study and class from the faculty members!
Info sessions for Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible: TBD

Instructor

Chandler Collins: B.A., Moody Bible Institute; graduate studies, Jerusalem University College; M.A., M.A., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Ph.D. Candidate, Bar Ilan University. Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa and Abel Beth Maacah. Former Dean at Jerusalem University College. Published author. Began teaching at JUC in 2017.